Emotionography

Potter and Hepburn give us something psychologists seldom actually provide: investigations of people's actual behavior, in the settings that matter to them, and where the stakes are live and real. They do this through specifying, both theoretically and empirically, how emotion unfolds and matters moment to moment, in social interactions, and in its outcomes. Emotionography is essential reading for all those who study, research, and experience emotion.

-Elizabeth Stokoe, PhD, Professor in Psychological and Behavioural Science, The London School of Economics and Political Science, London, United Kingdom

This trailblazing work opens an entirely new landscape of understanding and inquiry into the emotions. Potter and Hepburn move emotional study out of the laboratory and into real-life settings, where one can now begin to understand emotion's interdependent functioning in ongoing relationships. They also invite the reader's company, as they provide the necessary instruction for joining them in this distinctive form of research. An innovative and important book indeed.

-Kenneth J. Gergen, PhD, Senior Research Professor, Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, PA, United States

Seventy years ago, C. Wright Mills showed that the ascription of motives was an interactional process. Now Potter and Hepburn have done the same for emotions. This groundbreaking book makes visible the intricate practical life of emotion in our interactions.

-David Silverman, PhD, Visiting Professor, Business School, Leeds University, Leeds, United Kingdom

In Emotionography, the authors hand us a magnifying glass through which to see, in breathtaking detail, the expression of emotion as it occurs in situations both alarming and real. For professional and general readers alike, the book attunes us to emotion as a language through which we know what's going on, and through which we unwittingly speak. A very exciting contribution.

-Arlie Russell Hochschild, PhD, author of The Managed Heart: Commercialization of Human Feeling

A tour de force in persuasion. Potter and Hepburn had me at Chapter 1—with quotable gems that kept me smiling and my highlighter running. You will never experience, study, and conceptualize emotions the same way again.

-Hansun Zhang Waring, EdD, Columbia University, New York, NY, United States

Potter and Hepburn's groundbreaking book on emotionography provides a vivid and engaging account of how emotions are displayed and managed in everyday life using the most powerful interactional methods currently available: conversation analysis and discursive psychology. It will become essential reading for psychologists and social scientists who are seeking a fresh, innovative, and vital alternative to orthodox emotion research. This fascinating study of "emotions in the wild" is sure to be a game changer!

-Peter Muntigl, PhD, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium